his framing was this isn't about big government and it's not about small government. it's about smart government. and he could have picked up that same frame and pulled it into this debate for his articulation of his vision for both government, which is make it smart. because romney got points on that. he said i would cut the stupid government programs. >> right, right. >> he's like, me, too. i will invest in the smart government programs, the ones as ari mentioned that will put people back to work. >> along with that, what i thought was so missing from their whole exchange was he had many opportunities to bring in some of romney's fews that are quite extreme. whether you talk about immigration or women's health, gay and lesbian rights. he let those go by. he gave romney in a sense another opportunity to reframe himself yet again. it's difficult to keep up with it. he's presenting new ideas and going back to old ones. >> it's true i kept thinking to myself, the biggest danger was that people may have walked away thinking mitt romney's not that scary. i'm thinking only